Wagner's Letters

Richard Wagner to Emil Heckel

November 19, 1872 · Mannheim

Subject

Inscription in a copy of "On Actors and Singers"

Overview

Wagner's rhymed dedication to his host, written on the cover of his pamphlet On Actors and Singers during his stay with the Heckels, and signed with a dig at the cuts made in the Mannheim Flying Dutchman.

Letter

If each pot had its Deckel, [lid]
Every Wagner his Heckel,
Man might live without trouble,
And the world be no bubble!

Richard Wagner,
Visitor cut in Mannheim.

Source: Letters of Richard Wagner to Emil Heckel, with a Brief History of the Bayreuth Festivals, trans. William Ashton Ellis (Grant Richards, 1899), No. 32

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